From left; Secretary of State Denise Merrill, State Sen. Beth Bye, D-West Hartford, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, and U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, attend the governor's signing of the Gun Violence Prevention and Children's Safety Act at the Capitol in Hartford, Conn. on Thursday, April 4, 2013.
Photo: Brian A. Pounds

HARTFORD, CT - APRIL 4: Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy (R) looks up after signing a gun-control bill April 4, 2013 in Hartford, Connecticut, After more than 13 hours of debate, the Connecticut General Assembly approved the gun-control bill early April 4, that proponents see as the toughest-in-the-nation response to the Demember 14, 2012 Newtown school shootings. (Photo by Christopher Capozziello/Getty Images)
Photo: Christopher Capozziello, Getty Images

HARTFORD, CT - APRIL 4: Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy (R) looks...

Mark Barden, center, father of Sandy Hook shooting victim Daniel Barden, hugs U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., left, as Barden's wife Jackie, right, looks on at the conclusion of a legislation signing ceremony at the Capitol in Hartford, Conn., Thursday, April 4, 2013. The legislation signed by Connecticut Dannel P. Malloy at the ceremony adds more than 100 firearms to the state's assault weapons ban, sets eligibility rules for buying ammunition, and creates what officials have called the nation's first dangerous weapon offender registry.

Photo: Steven Senne

Mark Barden, center, father of Sandy Hook shooting victim Daniel...

Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, second from right, gestures at the conclusion of a legislation signing ceremony as Jackie and Mark Barden, left and second from left respectively, parents of Sandy Hook shooting victim Daniel Barden, and Neil Heslin, right, father of Sandy Hook shooting victim Jesse Lewis, right, look on at the Capitol in Hartford, Conn., Thursday, April 4, 2013. The legislation signed by Malloy adds more than 100 firearms to the state's assault weapons ban, sets eligibility rules for buying ammunition, and creates what officials have called the nation's first dangerous weapon offender registry.

Photo: Steven Senne

Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, second from right, gestures at...

Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signs legislation at the Capitol in Hartford, Conn., Thursday, April 4, 2013, which includes new restrictions on weapons and large capacity ammunition magazines, a response to last year's deadly school shooting in Newtown. The legislation adds more than 100 firearms to the state's assault weapons ban, sets eligibility rules for buying ammunition, and creates what officials have called the nation's first dangerous weapon offender registry. Some parts of the bill would take effect immediately after Malloy's signature, including background checks for all firearms sales.

HARTFORD -- Connecticut's landmark firearms, school safety and mental-health legislation is now a law that supporters plan to bring to Washington.

At 12:22 p.m., using a half-dozen pens to sign the state's historic response to the Newtown killings, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy ushered in a new era of gun control in Connecticut.

"It is done," he said, sitting at a desk in a jam-packed Capitol conference room, flanked by lawmakers, anti-gun advocates and seven parents whose children were among the 20 murdered first-graders from Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The event came a month after leaders of the House and Senate started closed-door talks on a variety of proposals -- including Malloy's unsuccessful proposal to create an outright ban on large-capacity ammunition magazines -- that finally led to the bipartisan House and Senate votes of Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

"This is a profoundly emotional day, I think, for everyone in this room and everyone watching what is transpiring today in the state of Connecticut," Malloy said.

"We have come together in a way that relatively few places in our nation have demonstrated an ability to do," he said. "In some senses, I hope that this is an example to the rest of the nation, certainly to our leaders in Washington, who seem so deeply divided about an issue such as universal background checks, where the country is not divided itself."

Malloy invited parents from Newtown and Hartford to join him and speak before the brief signing ceremony.

Nicole Hockley, whose son Dylan was among the 20 first-graders killed by Adam Lanza in the school, said she was grateful to the lawmakers and advocates who pushed for the legislation.

"While I am grateful for the progress being made, I wish more than anything that I were just back at home waiting `til it was time for both Dylan and Jake to come home from school," Hockley said, exploring her conversion to political activist.

Hockley plans to go to Washington next week to lobby Congress.

"We have said from the outset that we want Newtown to be known not for our tragedy, but for transformation and this law marks the beginning of that turning point," she said.

Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch, who had a front-row seat for the event, said parts of the bill requiring criminal background checks for every firearms sale; and enhancing penalties for illegal gun sales, should mean fewer handguns on city streets.

"The background checks is very important too because that's a key element of stopping the trafficking," he said. "But the whole bill is going to tamp down, I think, the supply of weapons in the inner city."

With Malloy's signature on the bill that was approved in the House of Representatives 10 hours earlier, sales of 100 types of guns, including the Bushmaster XM15 used in the school shootings, are prohibited.

But effectively, the ban began Wednesday, so owners of guns and large ammunition magazines eventually will have to prove that they were purchased before April 4.

Owners will have until Jan. 1 to register rifles and large-capacity magazines with State Police. Procedures and policies will be announced in August.

The sale of ammunition magazines that can handle more than 10 rounds are immediately banned; and criminal background checks for all gun sales, including private rifle sales, are now required.

On July 1, those who want to purchase long guns, or purchase ammunition for all guns, will need to obtain permits.

On Oct. 1, criminal penalties for a variety of gun-related charges will double, including gun trafficking and criminal possession of firearms; and a ban on armor-piercing bullets kicks in.

"We're on common ground, where we know the nation as a whole has a vital interest," said U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who attended the bill signing. "If it could happen in Newtown to these families and their beautiful children and six great educators, it can happen anywhere in this country."